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Monday, May 6, 2013

Quiet Time is Dead

Remember when Baby got out of quiet time to use the restroom six times? I decided to stop fighting it. I killed quiet time.

No more time outs for getting out of bed. No more screaming from the little monster. No more having doors slammed shut and then locked on me (yes, she did that). No more telling Baby quiet time wasn't over yet and yes, she still had to stay there.

It was just getting to be more and more of a battle and Baby wouldn't even fall asleep at all, even though I just knew she was tired. Sometimes I would make her stay in bed for a couple of hours when I knew she needed a nap. Yet, she still didn't fall asleep and would do any of her plethora of three year old tactics to get out of it. Usually she resorted to screaming at me. It was stressful for all of us.

We haven't had quiet time for a few days now and Baby has been fine. She's fallen asleep in her stroller on our evening walks a couple of times, but I'm ok with that. She's a tad bit grumpier, but she snaps out of it when she is distracted. We just put her to bed a little earlier, which is nice. Don't children outgrow naps around this age?

The downside is that I really have no quiet time. Although it's not like I had any quiet time anyway. Usually Baby2 would scream all through Baby's quiet time. I could never get them to be on the same schedule. I the morning we would wake up and Baby2 would sleep while Baby would run around like a crazy child. Then during Baby's quiet time, Baby2 would decide that she wanted to wake up and scream. Once I got her asleep again, Baby would wake up. Then they would both be awake, Baby2 would scream and not want to be put down, I would make dinner while holding Baby2 and fending off Baby, Husband would come home, Baby2 would fall asleep for a few minutes, we'd eat dinner, Baby2 would wake up and scream some more. Husband would give Baby her bath and put her to bed while I attempted to calm Baby2 (usually that meant I just pigged out on anything sweet that I could make or find. Something about a screaming baby made me want sugar). Baby2 would calm down for me to put her to sleep and I would fall into bed.

I don't know why I'm writing in the past tense. This is now (minus the dead quiet time).

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About Me

I am a public school teacher turned stay at home mom to three little ones. I'm just trying to figure out how to balance this thing called life and thought I would document it honestly at the same time. Please feel free to comment!